Combining institutional theory with resource based theory to understand processes of organizational knowing and dynamic capabilities
Abstract
Purpose/ Research question. A promising way to understand the development of the dynamic capabilities and the knowing process is to build a bridge between the Institutional Theory and the Resource-Based Theory (RBT). Although being needed, this approach is missing in the extant literature. So we have a research question: It possible to construct a bridge between two dimensions basing on two theoretical bodies (Institutional Theory and RBT) using an “inverted binocular” to look at knowing process enacted in a process of organizational learning, for formation of competences and dynamic capabilities?
Design/Method/Approach. This paper analyses two different theoretical frameworks in a theoretic way and proposes an interface between those.
Findings. The exploration and explication of micro-institutional processes (organizational or individual) can be connected to the macro level (societal or field level) by combining Institutional Theory with Resource Based Theory (RBT) in a multiparadigmatic view between visions and levels (cross-level).
Theoretical implications. The bridge between these two theories would enable to strengthen the comprehension of the organizational changes in the various levels of analysis, considering their mutual dependence, and the knowing process and dynamic capabilities.
Originality/Value. One of the differentials of this paper is the attention given to knowledge as the main piece for the construction of the bridge between these theories.
Research limitations/Future research. An interface between the RBT and Institutional theory is necessary for a further development and understanding of concepts such as dynamic capabilities.
Paper type – conceptual.
Downloads
References
Al‐Aali, A., & Teece, D. J. (2013). International entrepreneurship and the theory of the (long‐lived) international firm: a capabilities perspective. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(1), 95-116. CrossRef
Barney, J. B., Ketchen Jr, D. J., & Wright, M. (2011). The future of resource-based theory: revitalization or decline? Journal of management, 37(5), 1299-1315. CrossRef
Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. (1990). Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. Administrative Science Quarterly, 35(1), 128-152. CrossRef
Crubellate, J. M., Pascucci, L., & Grave, P. S. (2008). Contribuições para uma visão baseada em recursos legítimos. RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas, 48(4), 8-19. CrossRef
Dacin, M. T., Goodstein, J., & Scott, W. R. (2002). Institutional Theory and institutional change: Introduction to the special research forum. Academy of management journal, 45(1), 45-56. CrossRef
Danneels, E. (2010). Trying to become a different type of company: Dynamic capability at Smith Corona. Strategic Management Journal, 32(1), 1-31. CrossRef
Deephouse, D. L., & Suchman, M. (n.d.). Legitimacy in Organizational Institutionalism. The SAGE Handbook of Organizational Institutionalism, 49–77. CrossRef
Eggers, J. P., & Kaplan, S. (2013). Cognition and capabilities: A multi-level perspective. The Academy of Management Annals, 7(1), 295-340. CrossRef
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Martin, J. A. (2000). Dynamic Capabilities: What are They? Strategic Management Journal, 1105-1121. CrossRef
Garud, R., Hardy, C., & Maguire, S. (2007). Institutional Entrepreneurship as Embedded Agency: An Introduction to the Special Issue. Organization Studies, 28(7), 957–969. CrossRef
Greenwood, R., Oliver, C., Suddaby, R., & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (Eds.). (2008). The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism. Sage.
Hamel, G., & Heene, A. (1994). Competence-based competition. Wiley.
Heene, A., & Sanchez, R. (Eds.). (1997). Competence-based strategic management. London: Wiley.
Hoffman, A. J., & Ocasio, W. (2001). Not all events are attended equally: Toward a middle-range theory of industry attention to external events. Organization Science, 12(4), 414-434. CrossRef
Kodeih, F., & Greenwood, R. (2013). Responding to institutional complexity: The role of identity. Organization Studies, 35(1), 7-39. CrossRef
Lawrence, T. B., Suddaby, R., & Leca, B. (Eds.). (2009). Institutional work: Actors and agency in institutional studies of organizations. Cambridge university press. CrossRef
Machado-da-Silva, C. L., Fonseca, V. S. D., & Crubellate, J. M. (2005). Unlocking the institutionalization process: insights for an institutionalizing approach. BAR-Brazilian Administration Review, 2(1), 1-20. CrossRef
Mills, J., & Bourne, M. (2002). Strategy and Performance (Vol. 2). Cambridge University Press.
Nadkarni, S., & Barr, P. S. (2008). Environmental context, managerial cognition, and strategic action: an integrated view. Strategic Management Journal, 29(13), 1395-1427. CrossRef
Oliver, C. (1992). The antecedents of deinstitutionalization. Organization studies, 13(4), 563-588. CrossRef
Patriotta, G. (2003). Organizational knowledge in the making: how firms create, use, and institutionalize knowledge. OUP Oxford.
Prahalad, C.K. & Hamel, G. (1990) The Core Competence of the Corporation. Harvard Business Review, 68(3): 79–91.
Prange, C. (2001). Aprendizagem organizacional: desesperadamente em busca de teorias. Aprendizagem organizacional e organização de aprendizagem: desenvolvimento na teoria e na prática. São Paulo: Atlas, 41-63.
Scott, W. R. (2013). Institutions and organizations: Ideas, interests, and identities. Sage Publications.
Teece, D. J. (2009). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management: Organizing for innovation and growth. Oxford University Press on Demand.
Teece, D. J. (2014). The foundations of enterprise performance: Dynamic and ordinary capabilities in an (economic) theory of firms. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(4), 328-352. CrossRef
Teece, D.J., & Pisano, G. (1994). The dynamic capabilities of firm: na introduction. Industrial and Corporate Change, 3(3), 537-556. CrossRef
Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 509-533. CrossRef
Thornton, P. H., & Ocasio, W. (2008). Institutional logics. The Sage handbook of organizational institutionalism, 840, 99-128.
Turner, D. & Crawford, M. (1994). Managing Current and Future Competitive Performance : The Role of Competence. Competence-Based Competition. John Wiley & Sons, 241-263.
Wall, S., Zimmermann, C., Klingebiel, R., & Lange, D. (Eds.). (2010). Strategic Reconfigurations: Building Dynamic Capabilities in Rapid Innovation-Based Industries. Edward Elgar Publishing. CrossRef
Zahra, S. A., & George, G. (2002). Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension. Academy of Management review, 27(2), 185-203. CrossRef
Zollo, M., & Winter, S. G. (2002). Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities. Organization Science, 13(3), 339-351. CrossRef
The authors agree with the following conditions:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication (Download agreement) with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors have the right to complete individual additional agreements for the non-exclusive spreading of the journal’s published version of the work (for example, to post work in the electronic repository of the institution or to publish it as part of a monograph), with the reference to the first publication of the work in this journal.
3. Journal’s politics allows and encourages the placement on the Internet (for example, in the repositories of institutions, personal websites, SSRN, ResearchGate, MPRA, SSOAR, etc.) manuscript of the work by the authors, before and during the process of viewing it by this journal, because it can lead to a productive research discussion and positively affect the efficiency and dynamics of citing the published work (see The Effect of Open Access).
ISSN 
ISSN 
